Soil Health - USDA ARS (.gov)

Farmers used to sniff their soil to gauge how healthy it was. According to ecologist Rosa Boone, you can deduce a great deal from its smell: "The fungi and bacteria present in the soil are important for soil health and are responsible for the soil's smell. " Boone discovered that the smell of soil can be captured and analyzed in the lab, providing insights into these microbial communities. "Monitoring soil life is becoming increasingly important, particularly in view of the forthcoming soil monitoring guidelines. My research shows that there is great potential for developing a sensor—an 'electronic nose'—that could be used to analyze microbial soil life directly, based on how it smells. " For her research, the ecologist installed tubes in 18 grasslands in the Ooijpolder, near Nijmegen. Farmers used all the grasslands, but managed them differently: Some used more artificial fertilizer (intensive management), while others farmed entirely naturally (extensive management)—and others fell somewhere in between.